dude looks like a lady
by bekutaa
Summary: "Would you like to have your fortunes told?" {on-going / for Shaaku.}
1. prologue

Note: Shaaku mentioned Dangershipping bodyswap and I was like "frick ye" and so this happened.

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**dude looks like a lady  
**_prologue_

"Would you like to have your fortunes told?" A young lady's voice crooned. The lady is dressed in all black, a cloak covering her from head to foot. Her long, sharp nails were coated in dark purple nail polish, and her wrists were covered in chains and bracelets. A crystal ball is neatly placed in front of her, on a table covered in a long, black cloth. Students of Heartland Academy passed by her stall without even giving her a glance, some of them even whispered amongst themselves, _'Hey, a fortune teller, isn't that just a hoax?'_, _'Don't look at her, she's weird.'_ and she pretends not to hear them because she has no time for non-believers.

Magic is very real. These mortals don't trust her, they don't deserve her attention. Only the worthy are allowed to approach her, only the—

"Hey look, Kotori! There's a fortune teller here!" And her thoughts halt because there's a good approaching her. There's a kid whose aura is strong and she feels that she's found a mortal worthy of her attention, and she feels a strong magical power from him. And she's curious, wants to know what power he has. She feels drawn to him and waits for him to enter her territory, where she is more powerful, where she can analyze him, where she can—

"Yuuma! We have no time for fortune telling!"

And the boy, Yuuma, stops. He stops just before he can enter her territory, and she almost curses. Only a few more steps and the boy would have been in her grasp. His power could have been hers. She could have sucked his life force out, if she wanted to.

He looks back at his friend and laughs apologetically, "Sorry, Kotori!" And rushes back to her side, and she – that girl – she has the gall to berate him. "You know that fortune tellers are fake, right? They're not true at all."

"Ahaha, really?" He asks.

As they walk farther, she could steal hear their conversation, "Of course they are, idiot! They're going to steal your money just to give you a fake fortune!"

She feels anger and hatred for this girl – Kotori, was it? – because she kept Yuuma and his power away from her. This girl deserves a curse to be placed upon her.

Her hazel eyes catch a glimpse of a figure flying over Yuuma. A figure covered in an ethereal light, and she rubs her eyes carefully, and looks again. The figure is gone. Suddenly, Yuuma yelps, shouting, "Astral don't do that!" And then Kotori laughs. Leaving the girl seated there, in her stall. Still looking at the place where she she believes she saw someone.

Was that figure just a figment of her imagination?

* * *

A girl approaches her at the time of sunset.

No one else has garnered her attention, and she's still thinking of that Yuuma boy when suddenly she feels another pull. She feels power; this one was colder… and older. Shrouded in mystery. She feels it in the girl approaching her. Long, blue hair, ruby eyes. Was this girl blessed by the goddess of magic as well?

"Isn't it too hot to be sitting outside wearing that?" The girl asks.

And she's mystified because nothing happens. The girl doesn't faint, she doesn't even look weak, yet she's _standing in her territory_. This girl's powers were strong. Stronger than hers.

She wanted those powers as well.

"Rio," a voice laced with impatience, "we have no time for petty things like this. Let's go." And her eyes land on a boy that looks almost like the girl – Rio was her name – she makes a connection that they must be twins. She can sense power in him too. But his is… weaker. Subdued. She squints at the twins, curiosity peaking.

"Won't you stay for a while and have your fortune told?" She asked in a voice she knew would draw people to her.

"No thanks. We don't need any cheap tricks today." And he left without another word.

"Hey, Ryouga! Wait up!"

What a shame. She could tell that the boy was going to have a bad future soon enough. He was going to have to make a decision that would change his life forever. If only he had stayed longer, she could've warned him.

But his impatience wasted his chance to find out.

* * *

A third person arrives, and this one is big. He wears the standard uniform for sophomores, but he has wings on his back and it's weird, but he's powerful but she feels sick. It was almost like he was the one sucking all her power instead of the other way around.

His voice rumbles asking her if she wanted power, and of course she does. She wants to be the most powerful person on Earth, but before she could tell him that, he speaks again in that rumbling voice, telling her to swear her loyalty. He holds a card above her head and she stares at it, and she can't read the words because it's… it's written in some sort of language and her head aches but suddenly everything is clear and she can read the words and she opens her mouth—

"All for the sake of the Barian World." She says.

The man – Gilag, he calls himself – tells her that she must get rid off Tsukumo Yuuma and his friends.

She'll do it.

For power.

For glory.

For the Barian World.

She knows what she has to do.

Two people cross her mind. The boy named Ryouga, and the girl named Kotori.

* * *

End note: Haha. Wow. I swear this was supposed to be a one-shot. What what what


	2. kotori

Note: Sorry it took so long, Shaaku!

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**dude looks like a lady  
**_chapter 1: kotori_

That night, Kotori had weird dreams.

In her dream, she was standing in the middle of two paths. But the strange thing was, one of the paths had steel bars blocking the path. Beyond those bars, she felt a familiar warmth, it was like the warmth of her home. She tried to see if she could climb over the bars, but to her dismay – this was a dream after all – the bars were like magic, and they kept rising and rising until she knew it was impossible for her to ever go over that path. She slid down the bars, thankful that it didn't leave a burning feeling in her hands.

She looked skeptically at the other path. There was nothing blocking her way, nor was there any other obstacle, at least, as she could see. But there was something about that path that didn't sit well with her. It felt too… too cold, too dark…? She couldn't explain it. But, she had no other choice, did she? It was the only path open.

She looked at the path that was barricaded. Something was telling her that she _had_ to go there. _That_ was that she had to go to, _that_ was the path she felt she was familiar with. _Calm down, Kotori._ She told herself. _This is just a dream, after all. Don't worry about it so much. _And so she began to walk the open path, telling herself along the way that it was a dream, and that nothing was going to happen to her, there's absolutely nothing to worry about.

But something was telling her that she should worry about it.

She felt that something was going to happen to her, now that she made this decision. She stopped her trek to gather her thoughts, looking back at the path that she came from.

And she swears all the blood drained from her face.

What she expected to be a path was pure darkness. Or something that looked like darkness at least. She could vaguely make out the shapes of crystal spires and something else… a throne? But suddenly that vision faded away as well, and the previous path she had taken was swallowed by darkness.

She gulped, "This is all just a dream. A very weird dream. Nothing's wrong. Nothing's wrong." And she kept telling those words to herself, like a mantra. And she found that the sound of her own voice calmed her down. Because she was still alive, nothing was wrong, nothing had chased her. She was okay, she was definitely—

Laughter.

And she almost yelled. The laughter surrounded her, it was loud, it was mocking. She didn't know where it was coming from, it came from nowhere, it came from everywhere. She was beginning to panic, because she was alone, god. She was alone and she didn't know where to go, and—

And she remembers this is a dream, and that she's going to wake up. She's going to wake up and she's going to go through the day like normal. She's going to be with her friends and they're going to eat lunch together, and—

_"Are you really sure about that, Kotori?"_

She doesn't know whose voice that is or why they know her name. She tries to pinch herself awake, but it's not working. It's like… it's like her body wasn't responding to her wishes at all!

And it takes all her willpower not to panic right there. It must be a sleep disorder, that's all. She'll definitely wake up! She has to! The laughter gets louder and louder and it's deafening and she doesn't know why she can't wake up.

So, she does the only thing she knows she can do. There's only one path – forward – and so she runs. She runs without looking back, she ignores the voices, the laughter, taunting her, telling her, _"That's right, Kotori. Run. Run! You have nowhere left but forward! That's the only way!"_ And more laughter.

She opens her mouth, tries to tell the voice to shut up, but the only thing that escapes her lips is a whimper.

She continues to run, run, run.

Until she sees it.

She sees a light, and it's bright and the voice stops, and the laughter fades away, and this must be her wake-up call.

Her legs kick faster, and she chases the light, as if it were to leave if she didn't run fast enough.

_"… a… ga… ouga!"_

She hears a voice, familiar this time, and she almost cries in joy because this dream was just too weird and she wishes she never has to go through this again—

_"… ni… Ani!"_

* * *

Thank God. She's awake, _awake,_ **awake**. She opens her eyes.

She doesn't recognize where she is. The ceiling is definitely not the ceiling of her room. Did something happen to her?

"Oh good, you're awake."

And she looks beside her and sees Kamishiro Rio.

_"Rio-san…"_ She tries to say, but it comes out as such a soft whisper, and she almost doesn't hear her voice. And, what is going on? Did she pass out somewhere? Why was Rio-san there? Where was she?

"You were making a lot of noise there. That's the first time a nightmare's affected you that much. Are you sure you're alright… Ryouga?"

_Ryouga…?_

**_Ryouga?!_**

Has Rio-san forgotten who she was now? She wasn't Shark. She was obviously Kotori! She was—

"What are you talking about, Ri—" And then she stops. She stops because, whose voice was that?! That was definitely not her voice. No, no. No. It wasn't hers.

It was a guy's voice. She was not a guy. She was…

"If you're gonna sit there all day, we're gonna be late, idiot."

Kotori gulped, and then looked down at her hands. Sure enough. They weren't hers.

She pulled away the bed sheets covering her body, and sure enough, the body wasn't hers.

"Ryouga! Will you just get out of bed already? Stop pretending that you're si—"

And Kotori turns to face her, and, "Rio-san!" She shouts, and it's not her voice. It's definitely not hers. It's Shark's. It's Shark's voice. She's speaking with Shark's voice. She's in Shark's body. And… _oh my god._

**Silence.**

"Excuse me?" Rio raises an eyebrow, "Rio-san? Are you mocking me now, Ryouga?"

And she settles to shaking her head, "No. No, no, no. Rio-san, it's me! Kotori!"

Rio crosses her arms, "Ryouga, did you hit your head on something? Please stop acting like a child, and just get out of bed. It's too early for you to be pissing me off."

And Kotori sighs because how is she going to explain it to Rio-san that she really is Mizuki Kotori? Come to think of it, Rio-san is already dressed up for school.

_Dressed up… for school._

It takes a long time to sink in. But when it does, she realizes that she's in Shark's body, and right now, Shark's in his pajamas. And she has to… oh no.

Her face, goes red. Beet red. And Rio-san taps her foot on the floor, "We're wasting **time**, Ryouga."

_How am I going to explain it to her?!_

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End note: (laughter) Oh man, oh man, oh man. The next chapter is obviously from Ryouga's perspective. I'll have it up soon. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. u v u


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